Contemporary Design - Home Improvement

About us

CONTEMPORARY RENOVATION - HOME IMPROVEMENT is a full-service licensed contracting company with a wide range of experience in home improvement and renovation. Whether you are looking to make small improvements or completely renovate your home, we can help you reach your goals while staying within your budget. Our goal is to help you create the home of your dreams and make the process easy. Our excellent reputation, extensive experience, and long list of satisfied clients attest to our superior attention to detail, timely delivery, honesty and integrity. Contemporary Design provides kitchen and bath remodeling and full-apartment renovation services for NYC Manhattan residents living on the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Midtown, Chelsea, Gramercy Park, Greenwich Village, Soho, Tribeca, including the Riverdale area. Whether you're remodeling or just improving one part of your home, our seasoned professionals will work with you to find solutions and guide you through the process, while offering you the best possible value. We can help you pick the best materials for your project and help you make choices that are both aesthetically pleasing and cost-effective. Let us educate you on the differences between materials, so you can make an educated choice about the look, performance, and the cost. We're experienced in working with co-op boards and building management, with their requirements and paperwork—architectural drawings, building insurance, and required licenses—and we'll handle everything for you. We're fully licensed and insured, so you'll have peace of mind, knowing that your project will not be hampered by problems beyond your control. How do we Estimate the cost of a project? At Contemporary design, we will help you create a plan and a design that reflects your needs and respects your budget, so that your new kitchen, bathroom or home improvement project is exactly what you want for exactly how much you want to spend. How do we bid? We prefer to "negotiate" contracts with owners. We provide cost consultation once we are the preferred contractor for the job, rather than offer bids on speculation. Detailed estimating can take many hours. We spend time evaluating and discussing the project with you, so that once we submit our bid, you can be sure that we've submitted a well thought out proposal. We work with owners from the very beginning of a project. On large projects, we work very closely with your architect or designer as well. After an initial telephone conversation, an appointment is made to view the project. At that meeting, which is free of charge, we have a thorough discussion about the full scope of work and the time frame to decide if the project would be mutually beneficial. If it is decided that we should go ahead, we will then begin the pre-construction process and pre-construction services. Contemporary Design will provide pre-construction services during the design stage of a project; this includes design, estimates and schedules, suggestions on materials, construction detail consultation and more. How do we estimate the cost? We provide estimates for the cost of the work. Much of our work is a "fixed price," meaning that we negotiate a fixed contract amount with the client before starting a job. Our focus is on helping our clients get the best value, not necessarily the lowest price. As we learn your priorities, we fine-tune our recommendations regarding subcontractors, materials, and methods to help you and your designers realize the greatest satisfaction for their budget. While we may not suggest the lowest initial budget, we are confident that we provide excellent value in the long run. Our focus is to meet your goals within your budget. How do we organize and supervise the work? We sometimes subcontract our specialized work, such as plumbing, electrical, heating, drywall, tile, etc. This saves our clients time and money, since we could...

Business highlights

Emergency services offered
123 years of experience

Services we offer

Baseboards and window trim New Doors and Windows design and installation, Built-in furniture Lighting, Cabinet installation Bathroom remodeling, Closet design Sheetrock / new walls, Counter-tops, Crown mouldings, Custom cabinetry, Floor installation and refinishing, Kitchen remodelling, Shelving, Tiling, Updated electrical wiring Paint and special wall finishes and Children space design. Green, energy efficient building.

Amenities

Emergency Services

Yes

Accepted Payment Methods

  • CreditCard
Reviews
1.52 Reviews
Number of StarsImage of DistributionNumber of Ratings
5
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Showing 1-2 of 2 reviews
Marcos H.
Feb 2012
2.0
$400
After calling the company, a person by the name of Kingdon Knowles came to assess the work. He estimated the work at around $200 and he said that he would come at a given time on a given day. He did not. I called him and he was very angry, stating "things cannot be done when you want to, but when I can, and I still have to get the tiles (two run-of-the-mill white tiles.) I was taken aback and he then mellowed and he said he would come that same day (the tiles suddenly materialized?) He made the repairs in around 30 minutes. When I asked him how much would it be, he said "$ 400 and cash." Since I was in no position to discuss his out-of-the-blue fee, I barely asked him if I could give him a check since I had to present the expense to my home insurance and to the board of the coop. His answer was "I take only cash." I did give him a check for $400 where I wrote "To Cash." The check could not be presented to the insurance company or the board of the coop. The matter was worse since he left without giving me a bill because, as he added "if I give you one, then is not cash."
 Mr. Knowles just hit me with an outrageous fee after he finished the work, on which I was counting on paying $200, if that, and then stating he would only take cash (something he never mentioned before starting the job) and then leave without giving me a bill for what I paid for the repairs.
I am retired and I can barely afford the $4000 he charged me for two tiles and 30 minutes of work and then being unable to get my insurance and/or the board to reimburse me.
Mr Knowles is a bully, and I am ashamed I allowed him to bully me. My only recourse is to never call him again, even though the job he did was adequate.

Marcos H.
Jul 2011
1.0
$400
I felt that it was too expensive to replace only three tiles.

Licensing

State Contractor License Requirements

All statements concerning insurance, licenses, and bonds are informational only, and are self-reported. Since insurance, licenses and bonds can expire and can be cancelled, homeowners should always check such information for themselves. To find more licensing information for your state, visit our Find Licensing Requirements page.

*Contact business to see additional licenses.

FAQ

Contemporary Design - Home Improvement is currently rated 1.5 overall out of 5.
Contemporary Design - Home Improvement accepts the following forms of payment: CreditCard
No, Contemporary Design - Home Improvement does not offer free project estimates.
No, Contemporary Design - Home Improvement does not offer eco-friendly accreditations.
No, Contemporary Design - Home Improvement does not offer a senior discount.
Yes, Contemporary Design - Home Improvement offers emergency services.
No, Contemporary Design - Home Improvement does not offer warranties.

Contact Information

257 Park Avenue S, New York, NY 10010

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